A hollow magnetic soft robot consisting of rod-shaped nanofiber actuators

Magnetic soft robots are prominent in biological environments due to the untethered movement and penetration under magnetic field. Moreover, in order to overcome biological barriers in microenvironment, the development of small size, biocompatible/biodegradable and precisely controlled mobility of magnetic soft robots is a promising. Thus, a hollow magnetic soft robot consisting of rod-shaped nanoactuators formed by the cleavage of photosensitive electrospun nanofibers is designed. The nanofiber actuators are composed of biodegradable polymer matrix and biocompatible superparamagnetic magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle fillers, and the uniform rod-shaped nanofibers are obtained from the molecule fracture of photosensitive copolymers under UV irradiation. Based on the bottom-up and top-down constructing concept, the hollow magnetic soft robots show unique property of the stabilized morphology, the programmed magnetization and the high order motion transition in an instant. This provides a strategy for designing and obtaining the adaptive magnetic soft robots, which can effectively improve the precise locomotion and fast movement efficiency in complex physiological environment. [Display omitted] •A new synthesis method of a hollow magnetic soft robot combining copolymerization, electrospinning and UV irradiation.•A constructed concept of biocompatible soft robots consisting of rod-shaped nanofiber actuators.•The unique property of the stabilized morphology, the programmed magnetization and the high order motion transition in an instant.